Parents are growing more concerned over the privacy of their children's WiFi-enabled toys, according to research from the University of Washington. This includes products like CloudPets, Hello Barbie and Toymail.

"These toys that record and transmit are coming into a place that's historically legally very well-protected," said Emily McReynolds, associate director of the Tech Policy Lab at the Seattle-based college. "People have different perspectives about their own privacy, but it's crystallized when you give a toy to a child."

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Through a series of extensive interviews and surveys, the study examined the attitudes of children and parents who use internet-connected toys. The children didn't understand that the toys were recording their conversations, and parents were worried about their family's privacy while playing with the products.

"The toys are a social agent where you might feel compelled to disclose things that you wouldn't otherwise to a computer or cell phone. A toy has that social exterior which might fool you into being less secure on what you tell it," said co-author Maya Cakmak, assistant professor at the Allen School. "We have this concern for adults, and with children, they're even more vulnerable."

In March, a security breach was discovered in the CloudPets network. CloudPets are interactive stuffed animals that allow parents and children to send messages to one another through apps connected to the products.

Hackers were able to access private passwords, user names and email addresses through a breach that infiltrated 820,000 user accounts from late December to early January, according to cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt.

According to the University of Washington study, parents want controls that allow them to disconnect the toys.

The authors hope the research will help toy designers and online privacy legislators make ethical decisions regarding WiFi-connected toys created for children.

"It's inevitable that kids' toys, as with everything else in society, will have computers in them, so it's important to design them with security measures in mind," said co-author Franziska Roesner, assistant professor at the Allen School. "I hope the security research community continues to study these specific user groups, like children, that we don't necessarily study in-depth."